David Heinemeier Hansson (DHH)

I understood that insight was true, but I wanted to do it in a way where I could sustain the journey for 40 or 50 years.

You can't do it again, or most people can't do it again.

A, because their second idea is not going to be as good as the first one.

It is so rare to capture lightning in the bottle like we have, for example, with Basecamp.

I know this from experience because I've been trying to build a lot of other businesses since, and some of them have been moderate successes, even good successes.

None of them have been Basecamp.

It's really difficult to do that twice.

But founders are arrogant pricks, including myself.

And we like to think that, do you know what?

We succeeded in large part because we're just awesome.

We're just so much better than everyone else.

And in some ways that's true some of the time, but you can also be really good at something that matters for a hot moment, that door is open, the door closes.

Now you're still good at the thing, but it doesn't matter, no one cares.

There's that part of it.

And then there's the part of it that,

Going back to experience things for the first time only happens the first time.

You can't do it again.

I don't know if I have it in me to go through the bullshit of the early days again.

And I say bullshit in the sense of the most endearing sense.

It's all great to do it.